Yamamoto Satoshi, Ishii Daisuke, Ishibashi Kiyoshige, Kohno Yutaka
Department of Physical Therapy, Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Ami, Japan.
Center for Medical Sciences, Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Ami, Japan.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Jun 14;16:890963. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.890963. eCollection 2022.
In daily life, we perform a variety of sequential tasks while making cognitive decisions to achieve behavioral goals. If transcranial direct current electrical stimulation (tDCS) can be used to modulate cognitive functions involved in motor execution, it may provide a new rehabilitation method. In the present study, we constructed a new task in which cognitive decisions are reflected in motor actions and investigated whether the performance of the task can be improved by tDCS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Forty healthy participants were randomly assigned to a real or sham tDCS group. The anode electrode was placed at F3 (left DLPFC), and the cathode electrode was positioned in the contralateral supraorbital area. Participants underwent one session of tDCS (1.5 mA, 20 min) and a sequential non-dominant hand task was performed for nine trials before and after tDCS. The task consisted of S1 (a manual dexterity task) and S2 (a manual dexterity task requiring a decision). The results showed the S2 trajectory length was significantly shorter after real tDCS than after sham tDCS ( = 0.017), though the S1 trajectory length was not significant. These results suggest that a single tDCS session of the left DLPFC can improve the performance of cognitive tasks complementary to motor execution, but not on dexterity tasks. By elucidating the modulating effect of tDCS on cognitive functions related to motor execution, these results may be used to improve the performance of rehabilitation patients in the future.
在日常生活中，我们在做出认知决策以实现行为目标的同时会执行各种连续任务。如果经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）可用于调节运动执行中涉及的认知功能，那么它可能会提供一种新的康复方法。在本研究中，我们构建了一项新任务，其中认知决策反映在运动动作中，并研究了左侧背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）的tDCS是否能提高任务表现。40名健康参与者被随机分配到真正的或假的tDCS组。阳极电极置于F3（左侧DLPFC），阴极电极置于对侧眶上区域。参与者接受了一次tDCS（1.5 mA，20分钟），并在tDCS前后进行了九次连续的非优势手任务试验。该任务包括S1（一项手部灵巧性任务）和S2（一项需要决策的手部灵巧性任务）。结果显示，真正的tDCS后S2轨迹长度明显短于假tDCS后（ = 0.017），尽管S1轨迹长度无显著差异。这些结果表明，左侧DLPFC的单次tDCS会话可以提高与运动执行互补的认知任务的表现，但不能提高灵巧性任务的表现。通过阐明tDCS对与运动执行相关的认知功能的调节作用，这些结果未来可能用于改善康复患者的表现。
